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Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: 2015 was a rough year for a lot of hedge fund managers, but it was especially bad for Bill Ackman's Pershing Square. Ackman included in his most recent investor letter an apology to investors for the poor performance. "2015 is a year we will not forget," he wrote.
Ackman cited missed opportunities to sell out of some of his positions namely, Valeant which hit $200 over the summer. The uptick was modest from Pershing's entry at $196, but the price has subsequently fallen on controversies surrounding its business practices. Ackman called the miss a "very costly mistake" but not an unforced error, as Pershing was restricted from trading after it became aware of a transaction in Valeant's pipeline.
He also said the firm made a similar blunder by failing to trim its position in Canadian Pacific after another modest gain in price.
"Our most glaring, albeit small, unforced error was buying additional stock in Platform Specialty
Products at $25 per share to assist the company in financing an acquisition," he wrote of another botched call. "We paid too much
as we assumed the new transaction would create substantial value, and because we assigned too
much platform value to the company."
Despite this list, Ackman stands by the concentration of his portfolio. He noted one factor that isn't necessarily economic in nature, but that appears to be impacting performance - as Pershing Square has developed a following amon...................... To view our full article Click here
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